1st Grade

February 04, 2012

Oh my, how they do go by. This winter (that kind of isn't) has been flying by. My personal time has been flying by as well, especially as I send much of my computer time lately working on winter carnival things at Homespun Waldorf. The first week was so much fun to prep and read.

For school this month Jack and Lucy both had a calendar/time block, with different projects and learning for each. I'll share more about Jack's month later (his favorite was making a water clock!). I told the story of the Twelve Months, we read seasonal book about the turning of the year and each kid memorized a poem. (I always fee like I have to add the caveat "And of course we did much more!")

With my help, Lucy made a perpetual calendar that we've added to our new morning routine. She's quite proud of it and it came together easier than I thought it would.

I was ready for her (and Jack for that matter!) to have a little more understanding of the order of the days. Lucy wanted to be able to see when fun events were coming (like birthdays and gymnastics meets). We also added a little daily weather piece.

First Lucy painted a very large sheet of watercolor paper. She enjoyed figuring out how many different colors she could make out of the three she had available.

I planned and penciled out the calendar grid. Each square is about 2.25 inches - I wanted the cut out squares to be 2 inches. I cut and pasted little days of the week tabs to put above each column.

I cut out plain pieces of watercolor paper (as in white and unpainted) for the month name banner on the top of the calendar. Lucy wrote the name of the month and decorated it appropriately. She's done three to this point and plans on doing a new month every week or two. At this time we also figured out what type of weather pictures we would need to reflect our weather. We decided we needed two images most days. Cold and sunny, rainy and warm, etc. I cut more 2 inch blank squares and she designed the pictures.

Next Lucy and I traced and cut plenty of 2 inch squares from watercolor paintings. (Yes! Another use for those STACKS of paintings!) She then numbered each square from 1-31.

I also cut out some blank squares. She used these to mark special events and drew a few birthday and holiday ones. I also cut the longer labels for the changing days of the week that you can see in the picture above. She wrote the days of the week on these.

Several of the items change daily (day of the week and weather) and everything changes monthly so I decided velcro was probably the best option for affixing everything. Wow, though, those little tabs are expensive! I bought one pack and cut each tab up into four.

These little bits of velcro are totally adequate for the job. Lucy helped me peel and stick everything, and we were done. Its the type of project that when I imagined it seemed a bit overwhelming and time consuming, but came together much faster than I thought it would. We finished it in a few days.

Lucy proudly counted out the days till her next gymnastics meet today so that she could give an update to her grandma.

October 14, 2011

Lucy started school with a two week form drawing block and only had about 2.5 weeks after that before we left town for a wedding. I used Marsha Johnson's wonderful files at Waldorf Home Educators to put together a quick block introducting four letters. Lucy received her first "real" main lesson book for this block and was quite excited about that! I made sure when planning out her letter blocks for the year that she would hear plenty of new stories, as she kind of already "did" first grade with Jack two years ago, but I also included some old favorites. We used a three day overlapping rhythm, so story on Day 1, retelling and drawing with letter and sound intro on Day 2 and retelling and writing on Day 3.

We started with "The Water of Life", a story we hadn't done before. The letter was "M" found in the mountains. Alliterative verse used:

Mighty, majestic mountains mingle with magical mauve mist.

When Jack did this block, he practiced the letter on Day 2 and wrote a row of them in his book on Day 3. Then, months later at the end of the school year we revisted the stories and he wrote one sentence from each story in space we had left. Lucy was very disappointed though, that she wouldn't be writing the sentence immediately and declared school, "Too EASY!!!" She started the year as a full on 7 yo, plus has been writing for quite some time. She also really wants to be challanged in just about every area of her life, so I made a quick adjustment to my plans and included the sentences now. Jack would have hated this, as writing was such a struggle for him.

I used "Rose Red and Snow White" with Jack and it is a favorite of ours. The letter "B" is found in the bear. Alliterative verse:

Betty Botter bought some butter but she said, "This butter's bitter."

Lucy used some popcorn kernels take make the letter shape.

Lucy found dolls and toys and set a little scene to retell the story. My kids always think this is fun, especially when a funny prop stand in is needed. She left it set up and played with it later in the afternoon.

"Hansel and Gretel" was up next with letter "W" for witch. Alliterative verse:

Wild, wacky witches wave wonderful wands.

I had seen this in lots of people's letter/story lists and it seemed obvious, sure, W for witch. I hadn't thought through it too much though, and was stumped while doing a chalk board drawing one night. How in the world does one reflect the letter "W" in the form of a witch??? Aha!!! A crooked broomstick! Ummmm... no flying witches in this story. Crooked creepy eyebrows!!! Ummmm.... I don't think my chalking skills are quite that refined. I finally settled on drawing a strange looking hat, but it worked and Lucy found the letter right away. I forgot to take a picture of my drawing, but here's Lu's.

And of course we made some gingerbread. The recipe we used was DELICIOUS!

Oh, there's my drawing in the backgound.

We finished with "The Goose Girl at the Well". Alliterative verse:

There grey geese in a green field grazing. Grey were the geese and green was the grazing.

I had actually meant to do the plain "Goose Girl" and hadn't realized there were two stories. Oh well, this story was good, too. Letter "G" was found in the goose. This is kind of a tricky draw, and I'm glad a found a good example during Jack's first grade. I don't have a picture again. I think I was packing for road trip / camping / wedding during this story, and it was kind of a miracle I got any school done at all.

Lucy cut four cards out of watercolored paper and wrote on each one of the four letters. She took turns pulling them out of the pile, recited the verse for each letter and named as many words as she could the started with the letter.

Now we are starting Lucy's first math block, "The Quality of Numbers". I'm so excited about math with Lu this year. She loves math and John has created a really amazing story to last us the whole year. I can't wait to share it with her!

September 26, 2011

What a difference a summer can make! Although we read much in the news about summer loss in regards to academic gain, I haven't found that to be true at all with my little Waldorfites. Waldorf pedagogy espouses the idea of introducing new material, working with it deeply for a while and then "putting it to sleep" until you come back to it again. So, for example, we work with math quite deeply for a month, and then set it aside for a bit. I have found time and again that when we come back to it, Jack is quite ahead of where he was when we last left it. It is as if his brain has had the freedom to percolate the new knowledge and make bridges to a deeper understanding.

This has held very true as we come back to formal learning from our summer break. Several things that were challenging for him are coming much more easily this year. Most noticeably his ability to sit at the table and work for much longer periods of time. Without tears or much prodding, he can fly through his daily math practice and copy work. In fact, he has decided he is a math wiz after spending last year convinced that he hated math. He is still having a tough time with writing independent compositions, but I'm feeling better about it after reading this great post at Handmade Homeschool. He can orally create wonderful compositions and reads at a level much more advanced than his writing, so I know the writing will come.

Handwork is much less frustrating for him this year as well. He has completed an embroidery he started at the museum a few weeks ago and will knit for half an hour without complaint. In a related observation, he also has much trickier jump roping skills than he did last year! He can add spins in the middle and has learned to jump in and out.

I see that "nine year change" happening with him, however I feel as if we have some good routines with each other in place to carry us through it with out too much drama.

Lucy comes into this school year having already done or observed much of first and second grade and I'm realizing I'm going to have to make some adjustments to that. Add into it her already high achieving nature and you have a girl quite disappointed that "school is too easy". So, back to the plan for the year to add a few tweaks and a little more challenge. The trap I don't want to fall into is that of essentially having two third graders this year. She needs first and second grade first! So I will mainly stick to giving her the typical Waldorf first grade, but find ways to make it more challenging.

I'm pleasantly surprised because I thought that it would be harder schooling Lucy compared to Jack. Jack most of the time thinks that I am smart and right about things. Lucy, not so much. I was concerned that this would make it harder to teach her. But I am finding that she is very school inclined and also very glad to finally have it be her turn for "real" school.

What changes have you seen in your children this year? What adjustments have you already had to make to your school plan?

September 22, 2011

I've struggled mainly with two things in bringing form drawing to Jack (and now Lu). First, I've found it hard to bring an imaginative aspect to it. I can look at a form drawing book and see the sequence of suggested forms, but am not readily able to imagine the forms as images that could be from a story. Second, teaching form drawing quickly devolves into a situation where I turn into the task master making Jack do it, "Again!!! Keep your line straight! Look at your page, can't you see that it isn't straight!!!" Ughh. In my third year of homeschooling I'm finding myself much more conscious of what activities bring that out of me.

But, I knew that I wanted to do more form drawing this year, and try and catch Jack up to where he should be with it grade wise. Also, his handwriting and ability to orient himself on a page aren't great and form drawing will help with this. Lucy likes this type of thing as a challenge. Over the summer Carrie posted a great idea using Brambly Hedge books. We love Brambly Hedge. As I looked through the book, I could find lots of images to translate into forms and I realized it is much easier to start with a story and find forms than it is to start with a form and come up with a story, for me anyway!

As I mentioned before we used Steiner's indications for the first day of first grade as the basis for our first day. After we ran around looking for lines and curves we sat down and read Brambly Hedge Autumn.

Day Two

I reread Brambly Hedge and this time we looked in the book for line and curves. We found lots, of course. I pointed out the tall corn standing in straight rows, also nicely mimicked in the field behind our house. We ourselves stood straight in a line together. We used Planx blocks to make our own long rows of evenly spaced corn. We drew straight lines in the air with our fingers and then we moved to the chalk board. Jack and Lu also used their white boards for lots of practice before the form was put onto paper.

Day Three

Retold Brambly Hedge and pointed out the cupboard shelves in the Store Stump, lots of nice horizontal lines. We made these again with our Planx blocks and then made some on the board.

Then for some laughs we all tried drawing the form with our feet.

After some practice on the white boards, the form was drawn of paper which will be bound later. Then we ate a yummy snack of blackberries and cream, just like the mice of Brambly Hedge.

Day Four

This day was a Monday and the day Jack started his block on food preservation while Lucy continued with this one, so there was a little more juggling on my part. Lucy retold the story and we looked at the pictures of all the berry patches with their many thorns and brambles. We used a running form to represent the thorns.

The mice are drying lots of food in the book, so it worked well as a bridge to start Jack's week learning about drying foods. On this day I started offering Jack some trickier forms to do, mostly harder variations of the ones Lucy was doing.

Jack and Lucy also started working on a mural of Brambly Hedge. I drew in some really rough images of the little town, and they got busy on the details.

Day Five

I didn't have a form picked for today, so we looked through the book to find a good one for our last day. Lucy chose a circle, based mainly on the house of some field mice. On this day we got right to work drawing and didn't really do any body movement for the circle. I get a little tired of "moving" the forms and haven't really found a way to do it that seems to resonate. We drew big circles in the middle of the white boards. Then we drew lots of little circles in patterns.

After this we practiced drawing concentric circles, first from the outside in and then from the inside out. In the end Lucy decided to use the single large circle and the concentric circles and make two entries for her form drawing book.

I'm trying to bring a more playful attitude to form drawing. Yes, you need to be quiet and concentrate when doing your best work at the end, but it is fun to mess around with lines and curves and give yourself a bit of challenge, too. This was our most successful attempt yet, it you judge success by lack of tears.

September 16, 2011

I taught myself to play the pentatonic flute several years ago, knowing that I wanted some experience before I taught J and L. I can read music, so I just taught myself using the fingering chart that came with the Choroi, and then I played music mostly from the Elisabeth Lebret book. I thought that it would come easily when I was ready to teach Jack at the start of first grade, but when the time came I just wasn't sure where to start. I looked at several books at the Steiner library, but couldn't find anything that great. I ordered Playing and Teaching the Pentatonic Flute and Pentatonic Recorder by David Darcy and I ended up being very pleased with it. It comes with a CD with all the music which I think would be very helpful if you were just learning how to play yourself.

It starts with a good introduction on why to start with the pentatonic flute, its limitations/strengths and how to introduce it. It also includes a story to go with giving the flute, but I better the one I shared yesterday. Next is a section for the adult to teach him/herself. Then comes the real meat of the book - pentatonic songs Darcy has written himself listed in the order in which he taught them to his class. One downfall of this book is that he doesn't write out clearly "how" to teach these songs to your child/children. However, we used simple imitation, sitting at chairs across from each other, and it worked out really well. The first song involves just the left thumb! And the next the left thumb and left index finger. The songs increase in complexity in a really manageable way.

Jack really liked the songs, and was proud of his ability to learn them. By the end of second grade he knew approximately 15 songs by heart and could play them quite well. Lucy is only on day 2, so if Jack's experience is a guide will be working on controlling her breathing while trying to coordinate her fingers at the same time. Watching her learn I'm reminded that one of the main reasons to start with a wind instrument is that it is so helpful in moving towards a very regulated breathing cycle.

The book ends with a retelling of "Masha and the Bear" with several songs to learn interspersed. I think we may turn this into a play this year.

If I get really brave, maybe I'll have Jack video me teaching Lu one day next week.

September 15, 2011

I received this story at a conference several years ago. Like many stories and verses you get at a Waldorfy conference, this is on a photocopied page with no author attributed, so I'm going to share it. Jack didn't know he would learn the flute in first grade, so I told this to him the night before his first lesson and in the morning his own flute magically appeared. Lucy has know since then that when she started first grade Jack would move up a flute and she would receive his. I read this story to her yesterday, on our first actual day of school.

Dear Heart and the Recorder

Once upon a time there was a young shepherd boy whose name was Dear Heart. In the small village where he lived there was a beautiful young maiden whom Dear Heart liked very much. But the beautiful young maiden took no notice of the young shepherd boy.

One day Dear Heart took his sheep out into the meadow to graze. The beautiful warm sun made him very sleepy. He decided to take a rest beneath the boughs of a majestic maple tree. He soon fell into a deep sleep. In his dream he heard beautiful music. He looked up to find that a woodpecker had made holes in one of the branches and as the wind passed through the branch beautiful music was made. Dear Heart wished that he too could make such beautiful music.

When Dear Heart woke from his dream, to his amazement, a beautiful recorder was sitting in his lap. Dear Heart picked up the recorder very carefully. He felt the smooth surface of the branch given so freely by the tree. He admired the holes made by the woodpecker. He held the recorder to his lips and gently blew through the recorder as if he were a gentle breeze. He too made beautiful music.

Dear Heart carefully wrapped the recorder in his scarf and tucked it in his pocket. He thought of nothing else as he brought his sheep home for the night.

A few months later all the people in the village were gaily celebrating a festival. Everyone had worked so hard to make this day so special. Dear Heart wanted to do something special for everyone so he began to play his recorder. Everyone enjoyed his music so much - especially the beautiful maiden.

Year later, Dear Heart and the beautiful maiden married and to this day they make beautiful music together.

People seem to call the Choroi instrument a "flute" or "recorder" interchangeably. I prefer calling it a flute, but want J and L to know that it can also be called a recorder. So when telling this story I use both words. Tomorrow I'll share how I learned to play and how I teach.

September 14, 2011

Okay, so really it was Jack's first day of third grade, too, but I had already prepped him that it was really going to be about Lucy today. She has spent the last two years being the tagalong add on in our school day and today I wanted to celebrate that she is finally a grade schooler. She's been begging for school to start for days, and was so excited that the big day was finally here.

I borrowed an idea from my friend Krista and started our morning with an introduction to our new supplies and a rather firm admonishment that they are properly taken care of and used only for school. I've noticed that at the beginning of the school year I can act very "teacherly" and they take it seriously.

We started with a circle time that we are going to add onto for the next month. I'm planning on having circle time for a block and then to morning walks for a block. They love circle time, but it can get a little stale, so I'm hoping this mixes it up a bit.

After circle time I told the story about Dear Heart and how he received his recorder. Then Lucy received her first flute lesson. I started with a brief introduction about how to blow into the flute properly. Then she learned how to put her fingers on and began learning her first song, played just with her thumb. She is four notes in, and very proud of herself!

In one of his 8 billion books, Steiner describes an ideal first day of first grade that begins with discovering the concept that the entire world is made of lines and curves. Lucy tagged along on this day two years ago, so there wasn't quite that A-HA! moment there was for Jack, but it was still fun to run around the house looking for lines and curves and then to go outside. I challenged them to find something that wasn't made of lines or curves, and they were amazed that they couldn't.

Then we came inside and modeled lines and curves out of playdough. Yuck, I made that playdough months ago and it really needs to be refreshed! We drew lines and curves in the air and then each drew one on the board.

(In case you were wondering, "Wow, is every flat surface in her house covered with really ugly flat, beige paint?" Yes, yes it is. "And hasn't she already lived there for two years?" Yes again.

The Jack and Lu practiced drawing the lines and curves on their new white boards. I noticed immediately that it is going to be a lot easier for me to avoid breathing down Jack's neck while he does this type of thing now that I have two doing school. He hates form drawing (hmmm... maybe has something to do with my neck breathing?) so I was surprised when he made it harder for himself and asked if he could create patterns with lines and curves. Lucy, as usual, wasn't going to be outdone, so she did some patterns, too. After some practice time they each got a sheet of paper and Lucy made one large line and curve using crayon, and Jack made his pattern using colored pencil. We numbered them and put them away for binding at the end of the year.

I forgot our opening verse (The sun with loving light...) so we stopped in the middle, stood up and said it. Then I completely forgot our closing verse. Somewhere mixed in here we ate a snack and went outside to jump rope. Oh, I forgot we did a little beeswax modeling, too. All the above took about two and half hours, so my plan is to then send them outside while I make lunch. Lucy didn't want to go out, so I said something to her along the line of, "Well, you're going to miss recess if you don't go out." To which she replied, "Oh, that's recess? Kids in school LOVE recess!" Then she ran out the door. They went out and worked on fairy houses and digging clay.

After lunch and clean up Jack had his first lesson on the diatonic flute. It is a little trickier than the pentatonic when it comes to getting a nice tone. So he mostly worked on proper breathing. He also learned Hot Cross Buns. Then it was time for Lucy's first knitting lesson. Those years of kindergarten handwork coupled with an intense desire to learn really payed off as Lucy knitting her first stitch today and followed it up with three rows.

Normally Jack will have more of his own work in the morning, plus some pm lesson work, but as I said we are starting with Lu and taking it slow. It really was a super day and I'm glad I have this record to look back on for the days when I want to put them on the first school bus that comes by. I feel so lucky to have this time with them.

During our afternoon quiet time, John came home with Lucy's most anticipated birthday gift.

August 18, 2011

I found here a nice description about how letters are introduced in Waldorf education, so I won't resummarize it all. Lucy is so excited to be starting school in a few short weeks. She has been chomping at the bit for first grade, mostly for reading and knitting, oh, and flute and math. So basically all of it. I'm excited, too, because first grade is so much fun. (Oh, and second grade too, plus I can't wait to start third grad. So, basically it is all fun).

Jack and Lucy will start together with a quick one week form drawing block, and then move into their first big subject block. Lucy's first block will be what I call "Fairy Tales and Capitals" - the quintessential Waldorfy way of introducing capital letters using fairy tales. She will then do two more blocks of it over the course of the year. In my effort to make sure things are fresh for her this year, I've kept some of our favorite stories from Jack's first grade, and added some new ones. For the first block I'm using Marsha Johnson's Fairy Tale block found in her first grade files. I love the great ways she found to weave the stories into the circle times, and I'm using those, too. I've also purposefully chosen some fairy tales that have songs in Let Us Form a Ring. I also looked to Carrie's list for inspiration. Unless noted, the stories are from Grimm's. I don't think you really need to intro this many letters with the story format, but I really love these stories and didn't want to miss working with any of them.

First Block

M - Water of Life - Mountain

B - Rose Red and Snow White - Bear - has song

W - Hansel and Gretel - Witch

G - The Goose Girl - Goose

Second Block

T - The Children in the Treehouse - Tree (from an African folktale book)

S - Twiggy - Snake - Plays for Puppets We saw this performed at Hawthorne Valley and love the story.

A -

E -

I -

O -

U -

So, you noticed all that nothing after the vowels. I didn't really find a good way to introduce them to Jack. We do lots of vowel sound speech exercises during circle time. I like the ideas I've seen about introducing them using a container story, but I don't use a container story for these blocks. So I'm still up in the air with how I'lld handle the vowels for Lu. Jack is reading really wonderfully, so I guess he survived my indecision transformed into lack. How do you intro vowels? Like consonants? Or something better?

My friend Krista recommended Making Math Meaningful to me last summer. I am so glad that she did. It completely changed my approach to math for 2nd grade and going forward. Instead of looking at math as simple algorithms one must memorize and learn to compute with, it spends the beginning years of math with a focus on really understanding and grasping how the number system works. For example, it delays learning how to carry and borrow until third grade because if right away you learn to add 52+34 by adding the 4 and 2 and then the 3 and 5 you aren't necessarily having the experience of what 52 and 34 are. Even this was a radical approach for me, the idea that there was more than one way in math to get to an answer. The book opened me up to thinking about math in a whole new way.

From their website the book gives:

curriculum guidelines for first - fifth grade

overview of child develoment in each grade

specific ideas for every math main lesson

step by step progessions for learning math facts

ideas for teaching math successfully

I just noticed this page on the website that has sample main lesson work as well as math practice downloads. Also, don't miss the math curriculum overview link, it is very good for planning.

Do note though, that it is not a math curriculum, rather it is a curriculum guideline. You still have to formulate your own lessons, but I found it very easy to do given the standards in this book. It does give you ideas for blocks. Also make sure you get the books by Jamie York, there is another curriculum by the same name with a very different content.

Games for Mathby Peggy Kaye is subtitled "Playful Ways to Help Your Child Learn Math". Even though I found it at the Steiner Library, it is available at most public libraries, and for a mere $1.34 on Amazon. I found it really helpful last year (2nd grade) and I anticipate using it again this year for first grade and third grade. It is designed for children in 1st, 2nd and 3rd grade, and I found the suggestions to be appropriate for each grade (i.e. Steiner won't roll in his grave if you play them with your kids).

Games for Math includes movement games and table games, plus doesn't require you to have any special equipment besides common things you already have around your house. Most importantly for us homeschoolers, every game in here can be played with one child and one adult (or two children once they learn it). Jack and I found ways to incorporate Lucy as well, even though the games weren't really for her - she could roll the die, move the counter, etc. It was discouraging to read all these great suggestions for math games in Waldorf resources only to realize that I would need a whole class full of kids to make it work. I found this book especially helpful for practicing math facts (boring without games, and we can only throw a bean bag so many times) and exploring place value in a concrete way. For me this book is a "must have" for math.

Vol 13 Mathemagic Childcraft The How And Why Library I haven't used this book yet, but I can tell it is going to be great. I wonder that there wasn't a Waldorf teacher involved in designing it, because it seems amazingly matched to the Waldorf math pedagogy. I read it mentioned in this blog post, and ordered it right away. It even has a quality of numbers section, who else does that? This year I plan on using it extensively for new quality of numbers ideas for Lucy, telling time (calendar and clock) and measurement. I especially like how it roots math in the lives of real people (long ago and today). The only problem with this book is that for some bizarre reason each chapter has a large picture of a real life freaky looking mime/clown.

These aren't books, but I want to list them because I found them so helpful in our math lessons.

The Concept and Teaching of Place Value A bit of a tough read (at least for me!) but I came back to it time and time again last year. His basic premise is that a deep and concrete understanding of place value is needed to truly be successful in mathematics.

Think Fun Math Dice We have had so much fun with this simple little game! It lends itself to being reinvented to whatever level your grades school child is with math. Like the Games for Math, this was an easy way for us to bring some fun to math without having a big group of kids.

July 25, 2011

Wow. My hat is off to you mamas who have planned a homeschool year for more than one child. What a difference from planning for only one. Lucy had a more "planned" kindergarten last year than the year before, but still, it was only one story a week, with a few activites plus some stuff geared towards her during circle time. My brain is overwhelmed with planing for two. I am trying to keep in mind that part of my brain muddle is related to summer time - even the Calendar of the Soul for this week backs me up:

Surrendering to senses' revelation I lost the drive of my own being, And dreamlike thinking seemed To daze and rob me of myself. Yet quickening there draws near In sense appearance cosmic thinking. (Steiner - 14th Week)

This week basically marks the half-way point of my family's summer, so let's hope some clarity in thinking is coming my way soon. As evidenced in my last planning post, I've got our blocks figured out. Now the main question is how in the hell I get all this done at the same time, in basically the same amount of time.

Starting last week, Jack and Lu now go to bed at different times. Up till now I've had luck putting them both down at about the same time (they share a room). Lucy has been going to bed a little later than she should and Jack a little earlier than he probably should. Our new routine is that they both hear a book at about 7:00. Lucy is asleep by 7:30, and Jack reads on my bed until about 8:00 - 8:30, then moves to his own to sleep. I'm planning to tell him most of his school stories at night before he goes to bed. I haven't minded, in the past, Lucy hearing stories meant for Jack's grade level, but I did so knowing that when it was her turn I would use different stories. For example, I didn't do Aesop's Fables with Jack last year, because I wanted to "save" them as new for Lucy. This year, though, will include a lot of Old Testament stories, and I want Lucy to hear them all fresh when she is in third grade. This frees up a little bit of time during main lesson time in the morning. Of course, she will still see his pics and overhear a bit of retelling, but that can't be helped.

I've been doing some thinking about how I can combine lessons for the two of them. For the most part I have them doing similar blocks at the same times (both doing math at the same time). I've got Jack doing those three blocks on grains, fibers and shelters at the same time Lucy is doing her Capitals and Fairytales blocks. I could use folk/fairy tales that would work for both of those blocks so that they could here the stories together, and then each do their separate work. So, I could use "The Porridge Pot" for the letter 'P" for Lucy, as well as using it to open the discussion on oats for Jack. Now I need to spend some time reading, reading, reading to find new and appropriate stories.

I think third grade is a good age to up the school requirements a bit, meaning Jack is going to have to put in a bit more school time than he has previously. For first and second grade we had a morning school time 4 days a week, lasting about 2.5 - 3 hours a day. I'm adding in an afternoon lesson time for Jack 3 days/week. (He is gone all day Wednesday for wilderness class and I'd like to save one afternoon for play dates). I imagine that the afternoon lesson time will last about an hour. Each session will start with flute lesson/practice. Then I've planned out 9 mini-blocks to coincide with his 9 main lesson blocks.

2 - Spelling - I plan to do one mini-block to intro how we will approach spelling. After this mini-block it is something he will do weekly and will be drawn from current stories / lessons.

3 - Extra project time - this coincides with his Fibers block, which will be project heavy.

4 - Holiday block - will probably spend this time doing holiday prep.

5 - Cursive Handwriting - I'm planning to use Cursive Handwriting from Handwriting Without Tears. Jack used one of their print books last year and it worked well for him. Handwriting is an area I've found that can quickly bring Jack and I into conflict (mainly because I get too intense and critical) and so these workbooks help me step back and him to work on his own. I haven't found it necessary to purchase the teacher handbook, the workbooks are very straight forward.

7 - Spelling - by this time I should have an idea about the types of words he needs help spelling. We'll focus on some specific word families.

8 - Cursive handwriting

9 - This is our outside block, so now extra lessons here, just more work!

My next steps in the planning process are to get our blocks written out on my planning calendar (I'll how I do this). Decide what holiday/seasonal stories I want to do each month. Finally choose some stories so I can get to the next steps of planning.

Have you schooled more than one child? What am I missing that you figured out once you were finally doing it? (Besides thinking that maybe we should just read and knit all day).